7.20.2005

Ava Thursday: Reading books

Ava drew this the other day on her dry erase board (there's a chalkboard on the other side) and once I saw it, I knew that I had to scan it somehow. What an amazing drawing! It's just so interesting to see how much she picks up from what she sees around her, as well as how she does something completely different from the norm.

Originally, Ava said that this was her and mommy, but then later changed it to be her best friend, Stella, and Stella's mommy reading books. Notice that Stella's mommy (on the left) is reading a book about food. That's a bowl of soup with a spoon on the cover there. Those are other books up above, with a TV on the cover of the right one.

Two things I love about this fantastic drawing:

1) Her astute attention to letterforms on the books. The way she did this, was she'd look at one of her own books, study it, turn around and draw a letter, then turn back around to study the book again, turn again to the drawing and draw another letter, and so on. And her penmanship is remarkable.

2) The way we are looking down at the subjects as they are reading. Again, this (to me) is simply wonderful to see how she is coming up with different ways of looking, developing a unique sense of compostion. I NEVER did anything like this until I was well into my.... well, just last year, to be honest.

This girl of mine is freaking me out. In a good way, of course.

UPDATE: Ava just informed me that the book the mommy is reading is called "How To Eat Your Food Good," and that Stella's book is "of things to make a party."

wow fantastic ! love that the figures are placed on the edge of the page (so unusual !), that we're looking down on them same as they're looking at the books (the eyelids especially convey that wow !), and the wonderful arms and hands connecting it all.

That's awesome! Amazing how well the letters are formed. The overhead viewpoint is really well done. Very cool to see such attention to detail and observation in an artist so young. One of my favorite Ava Thursdays to date!

That is brilliant. I really dig the way she is thinking "out of the box" when it comes to composition, design, and the camera angle. VERY cool stuff. You should let her stay up late as a reward for this awesome piece. ;)

Jared, yeah -- midnight would be more like it. It's getting to be more and more closer to that time, I hate to say. Good grief.

Jeremy, the board thingy is not too big, just about 9 x 12 inches, maybe slightly larger, I guess, as it was definitely larger than the scanning bed, which usually run 8 1/2 x 11. There was a problem with the raised edges of the board, but I figured I'd still give it a whirl. I had to scan it twice, left and right side, and then merged the two scans in Photoshop. You can tell the lighting differences at the edges there.

Lindsay, this is what I'm loving about her work, is that she's not thinking about how she should draw something based on other kid's drawings, that she's drawing the way that she'd like to draw.

And Jamie, that's okay if you just comment on Ava Thursdays, I don't mind. I'm just glad you come by and visit. Makes me happy.

I had the pleasure of visiting with my 3 and half year old niece who has been doing lots of drawing. I think that reading Ava's Thursday's helped me ask her better questions and understand what she was doing a bit more. Thanks!